tambourine
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tambourine
1570–80; earlier tamboryne < Middle Dutch tamborijn small drum < Middle French tambourin or Medieval Latin tamborīnum. See tambour, -ine 1
Explanation
The tambourine is a portable percussion instrument that you shake or strike against your leg or palm. If you want to be in a band with your friends but you don't know how to play an instrument, you could try playing the tambourine. Tambourines are round and look like shallow drums (sometimes with an actual drumhead) with several pairs of metal disks that jingle against each other when you shake or tap the tambourine. The earliest meaning of tambourine was "small drum," from the diminutive of the French tambour, "drum."
Vocabulary lists containing tambourine
Musical Instruments - Introductory
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Musical Instruments - Middle School
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Musical Instruments - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Kostelnik took his place with the band, and got paid for playing the tambourine for the hourlong set.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025
The Roses gave Nick his first recording credit too as the then 16-year-old played tambourine on their hit single Love Spreads, still their highest placing single, which reached number two in 1994.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2025
She provides backing vocals, plays tambourine and guitar.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2024
While Kat says he can’t buy a guitar every time he messes up, he jokes and tells her he can buy her drums, a tambourine and other band instruments.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2024
“No shaking that tambourine at the table,” Big Ma said.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
But at this music class there are no bells or tambourines and no Wheels on the Bus or Baby Shark.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2025
Available are 90 guitars, 62 keyboards, 24 bass guitars, 15 maracas, five ukeleles, two tambourines and a couple of cowbells.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
So he kept his promise: “We went to music class, and we banged tambourines for like an hour.”
From New York Times ● May 15, 2023
Six school employees converge in the elementary school music room, where tambourines and xylophones hang from the wall.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 5, 2023
The rabbis encouraged them, and they made the women and young people sing and play tambourines and timbrels to keep up their spirits .
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
